The fairies have appropriated many flowers for their especial use. Despite the disbelief of latter days, to some people elfland still extends around the globe, and defies all the laws of chemistry and physics. It is still fairy midnight trippings which form those mysterious circles or depressions often to be noticed on the dewy sward of early morning. When the peasant girls of England go out into the meadows to beautify their complexions with applications of May dew, they always leave these mystic circles severely alone, for fear of offending the fays.
Midnight is the fairy magic hour. At the trumpet call of the Harebell, they gallop to their meeting-places mounted on blades of Grass or on Cabbage leaves. Sometimes they assemble to the tolling of the Wood-Sorrel or “Fairy Bell”. For more extended migrations, they travel in Nuts. They usually dress in green and provide themselves with mantles of Gossamer. The Irish ones use Fox-Glove blossoms to cover their hands. In infancy, the fays are cradled in Tulips and throughout life, they use the Cowslip as a drinking cup, and seek shelter of the Wood-Anemone in wet weather.
In some localities, it is believed that the fairies create the Toad-Stools. They are also reputed to gather colours from the sunset clouds, and with tiny but accurate brushes cover flower petals with their delicate tints. Fairies seldom reveal themselves to men, but the lucky possessor of a four-leafed Clover is sometimes privileged to see them.
From time immemorial, men and maidens in love have sought the aid of their floral friends. Which of us is there who has not gone to the Daisy in some heart perplexity of youth, and made its petals say, “She loves me; She loves me not,” as we pulled them off one by one? An older and less known superstition says that an Apple seed placed on a hot stove will hop towards one’s future mate.
In England, the Marigold is used for various love divinations, but in Germany it is carefully excluded from affairs of the heart. In that latter country the Star-Flower and the Dandelion are popular in such cases. There was a time when Peas were much in demand for sentimental forecasts. On opening a pod, the number of green spheres discovered had a special significance. The dwarves were supposed to be especially fond of Peas. Even the prosaic Onion has at times been used to explain the mysteries of the divine emotion.
The Rose, most superb of flowers, has been extolled through all ages as the symbol of love. Incidentally, it is the national flower of England. The Scotch have a pretty ballad legend about Fair Margaret and Sweet William. The beautiful love of these two young people never realized itself in marriage. They both met an untimely death and were buried on either side of the neighbouring church. Soon there sprang up a climbing Rose vine from the grave of each, and meeting on the gable of the church, the lovers entwined in the lasting embrace which had been denied in life. Red Roses, because of their colour, have sometimes been supposed to have a relation to human blood. The medieval girl used to bury a few drops of her blood under a Rosebush in the hope that this action would bring her ruddy cheeks. The Romans used the Rose as the symbol of love for the dead. They placed it extensively on their tombs.
In the past, there have arisen rumours of plants of wondrous properties which have been the mere inventions of glory-seeking travelers. Sir John Mandeville was a famous offender who even issued reports of trees which produced live animals in their fruits.
The old Greeks used to decorate their tombs with Parsley. When a person was dangerously ill, it was often said, “He has need now of nothing but Parsley.”
The humble Bean has at times been afforded superstitious reverence. It is said that Pythagoras forbade his disciples to eat it.
The anxiety to secure good crops has led to many superstitious practices. In the pagan days of Germany and likewise in Rome, an image was carried around each field in order to insure its fertility. After the introduction of Christianity, the image of a saint was substituted for the heathen deity, and the practice continued.